Minority Politicians Gain Public Support

Submitted on Mon, 28/09/2009 - 3:20pm

Political parties beware, the 'others' are emerging.

Before we fall into confusion, by 'others' we don't mean a recent horror movie, (but they may bring a shiver down the Big Threes' spines!). 'Others' refers to any minority party and non-aligned (Independent) politician.

The latest YouGov poll suggests that the public support for alternative politics is growing fast, 14% would consider voting for an 'other'. This is an astounding result, as the Lib Dems are only slightly ahead at 21%.

In the European Elections in June, proportional representation enabled the 'others' to have a huge influence; UKIP came second, whilst the Greens finished fifth.

The Guardian Columnist, Vernon Bogdanor, commented last week that the main political parties were declining at an alarming rate. But he also argued that the first-past-the-post-system is extremely unfair, as the election results do not reflect the huge number of people who voted for the 'others'.

The Lib Dems have always identified themselves as providing an alternative to the two dominant political parties, but maybe Independent politicians can now be seen as the viable alternative to corrupt party politicians.

The recent party conferences appeared to have not helped boost the public's confidence in party support either. The YouGov poll showed that the support for the Lib Dems only slightly increased during their conference.

Power 2010 is a new initiative to discover the public's 5 key ideas on electoral reform. It wants members of the public to submit their views online on changing the political system, as they believe that MPs cannot be trusted. The public have until midnight on the 5th November to get their voice heard.

Hopefully 'the others' will bring a new breath of fresh air into our political system. I urge you all to get involved and send your views to organisations such as Power 2010 and Make My Vote Count.

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